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plagarism

I love to knit. I started when I was about seven. All knitting is basically made up of two stitches: knit and purl. I learned to knit from my Grandma and to purl from my Nonna and I caught on to it like a house on fire. I recently started the new project that’s all the rage- The Beekeepers Quilt by Tiny Owl Knits. It consists of making little hexagons, stuffing them, and sewing them together.

My hexipuffs so far!

I got the pattern in my Knit Crate Newbies subscriptions (this is linked to my referral code.), which is an amazing way to learn the ways to combine knit and purl. The quilt concept is amazing, and as it’s super popular I’ve spent more than a little time looking at what other people have made. Both because people have done some amazing things with it and because I need proof that it is, in fact, possible to finish one of these in my lifetime.

As I was doing that, I came across this post on pinterest. If you don’t want to waste your time with her blithering, the summarization is that no one should charge for a pdf and $5.50 is ridiculous for a pattern. She then posts a free version of the pattern that isn’t the same, but very similar. She basically says that because people are modifying the cast on/bind off and such that it wasn’t even worth paying for the idea.

This killed me. I actually cringed while reading it. I don’t know what compelled me to, but a scroll through the comments showed that people were thanking- thanking!- this… human for blatantly ripping off a designer.

Stephanie Dosen, the designer at Tiny Owl Knits, is amazing. She does quality, well written patterns. The beekeepers quilt pattern has pictures. PICTURES! The pattern is well written and includes charts. Her other patterns are beyond adorable. She has a thing on her ravelry group where you can refresh like mad on fridays and the first person to respond to her post saying go gets a free pattern. This girl isn’t out to screw us, the knitters. She’s trying to make a living as a creative person and she deserves to be paid her work. I sometimes get stuck deciding which stitches to use on a basic scarf so yeah, making patterns is hard. Let alone writing them in a clear and amazing way.

I get a lot of offers to write “for the exposure” and if the site fits my brand and I think I have something that will merge then I’m happy to do it. Being a creative freelancer means not being rich. Flat out. I still spend 5 days a week sitting in an office and I’ll probably be doing that for a very long time. But, if I was offered to be paid for something and the payment never comes then that’s a problem and my friends would be outraged that this reputable publication doesn’t actually pay people. How is posting a knockoff of someone’s work not the exact same thing? Dosen deserves to be paid for her intellectual property. If this Charm Hour person is that outraged at paying $5.50 and has a thing about all patterns being free I’d like to see her make up some stuff and post it for free. Ripping off someone else is not okay.

Rant over.

But still bugging me inside because seriously, so many people are posting this on pinterest being like “this is amazing!” “knitting patterns are a rip off!”